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Experimental silicon solar cell

National Museum of American History
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Object Details

associated user
unknown
Bell Laboratories
Description (Brief)
Scientists and inventors in the 19th century recognized that some materials respond electrically to exposure to light. Alexander Graham Bell, for example, demonstrated in 1880 a “photophone” that could transmit voices using the action of sunlight on selenium. In the 1930s, Daryl Chapin studied magnetic recording at Bell Labs but later shifted to research on generating electricity with sunlight. In 1954, building on earlier work done by colleague Russell Ohl on fused silicon, Chapin, Calvin Fuller and Gerald Pearson invented a practical solar cell. In 1969 Chapin donated two of his experimental solar cells to the Smithsonian. He also donated a module used in a test installation in Americus, Georgia, to power a rural telephone relay.
Credit Line
from Bell Telephone Laboratories, thru Daryl M. Chapin
1954-03-03
1954
associated date
1954
ID Number
EM.330095
catalog number
330095
accession number
285748
Object Name
solar cell
photovoltaic cell
Measurements
overall: 3 3/4 in x 2 in x 1/8 in; 9.525 cm x 5.08 cm x .3175 cm
cell only: 2 in x 3/8 in x 1/8 in; 5.08 cm x .9525 cm x .3175 cm
See more items in
Work and Industry: Electricity
Energy & Power
Exhibition
Inventing in America
Exhibition Location
National Museum of American History
National Museum of American History
Record ID
nmah_713146
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-568a-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

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